October 17, 2007

With SUU hoops, 'newcomer' is key word
By Jay Hinton
Deseret Morning News

"Out with the old and in with the new" could be the motto for the Southern Utah University men's basketball team.

Out is veteran coach Bill Evans, who was fired last year after a 16-14 season.

Out are a bundle of letter-winners.

Out is the Mid Continent Conference.

In is a new coaching staff headed by Roger Reid.

In is a new crop of players, many of whom followed Reid to SUU from Snow Junior College.

In is the Summit League (formerly known as the Mid Continent Conference).

"We are working with basically a completely new team," said Reid, who spent two seasons at Snow. "We have four players returning who have played in the league, but as a staff we're still getting to know them."

Three of the four letter-winners (Orlando Greigo, Nurudeen Adepoju and Tate Sorensen) started last year, while Dave Marek saw time off the bench.

Junior college All-American and Scenic West Athletic Conference player of the year Geoff Payne (21.7 points, 6.7 rebounds), all-SWAC performer Nick Livi and Davis Baker (UC Irvine) top the list of newcomers.

"We have brought in some players with us (from Snow), but they're going to need time to adjust to the step-up in competition level," Reid said. "We also have brought in some other talented players, but they're still getting to know us and they don't really know the league, so we do have questions."

In addition to Payne, John Clifford, Cris Hoopes, Tyler Quinney and Rick Roberts transferred in from Snow College.

In all, the T-birds have 10 new players and three new coaches (Reid, Ron Carling and Austin Ainge). So naturally, question marks exist.

"I do know one thing, we're going to work very hard to get where we want to be," said Reid, who was 152-77 in eight seasons as head coach at BYU.

"The players we have here have a good work ethic. They've been doing what we've asked of them from Day 1 and that work ethic is a plus."

Reid inherits a team that lost six of its last seven games last year. The T-birds were ousted in the first round of the conference tournament.

"We've been conditioning ever since we've been here, starting out on the track and moving into the weight room, and our team will be in shape," Reid said. "Hopefully, down the stretch in close games that will correlate to some wins."

At BYU, Reid had six 20-win seasons while winning three WAC titles and two conference tournament championships, and earned six postseason bids (five NCAA tournaments).

The T-birds haven't been to the NCAA tournament since it went for the first time in school history in 2001. Now it's Reid's goal to get back.

"There are a lot of unknowns," he said. "As a staff, we really don't know what the Summit League is like, but we do know what it's like to go to BYU, to New Mexico, to Utah State and we know that while our league had its share of challenging places to play, they won't be any more difficult to win in (as a visiting team) than the Marriott Center, The Pit or the Spectrum.

"We've been able to go into those places in the past and win, and we want to feel like we can go into them and win again, and go into the toughest arena in the Summit League and win."

The T-birds, after two exhibition games at home, open the year at Utah State on Nov. 9. They also have preseason games with New Mexico, BYU, Boise State, Utah Valley State College and Cal State Fullerton.

4 questions facing the T-birds

How will the team respond to coach Roger Reid and his new staff?
Can junior-college transfers raise their game to the Division I level?
Will three returning starters be able to carry the team early?
Will a rigorous preseason schedule bury the team before tough league play opens?

College basketball previews

The Deseret Morning News is previewing local college basketball teams, which began practice last weekend for the 2007-08 season:

Oct. 11: Utah
Oct. 12: Utah State
Oct. 13: BYU
Monday: Weber State
Tuesday: UVSC
Today: Southern Utah